cathedrals of Lincoln, Salisbury, and Gloucester. When, in the
next reign, that of Henry III., circumstances required that the
charter should be confirmed, the ceremony was performed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the other bishops. Coming before the
king, in Westminster Hall, with tapers in their hands, they
denounced excommunication against the breakers of the charter;
and, casting down their tapers, exclaimed, "So may all that incur
this sentence be extinguished." To which the king responded, "So
help me God, I will keep all these things inviolate."
Hallam says, of this great charter:
"It is still the key-stone of English liberty," "and all that
has since been obtained is little more than as confirmation or
commentary."
Sir James Mackintosh and Sir William Blackstone agree essentially
with Hallam. In respect to the merit of obtaining the charter,
Mr. Hallam says:
"As far as we are guided by historical testimony, two great
men, the pillars of our church and state, may be considered as
entitled beyond the rest to the glory of this monument--Stephen
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and William, Earl of
Pembroke."
Of the charter, Sir William Blackstone says:
"It protected every individual of the nation in the free
enjoyment of his life, his liberty, and his property, unless
declared to be forfeited by the judgment of his peers."
The Petition of Right, passed in 1628, was based confessedly upon
Magna Charta. Its principal provisions are:
1. That no loan or tax might be levied, save by consent of
parliament.
2. That no man might be imprisoned but by legal process.
3. That soldiers might not be quartered on people against their
will.
4. That no commissions be granted for executing martial law.
This Petition of Right, in its third article, quotes entire the
thirty-ninth of the charter, which is there styled "the great
charter of the liberties of England." Coke, who drew up the
petition, in his speech against the king's prerogative, says: "In
my opinion, it weakens Magna Charta and all our statutes."
The Bill of Rights, passed at the Revolution of 1688, assumes it
as the clear duty of the subjects "to vindicate and assert their
ancient rights and liberties." The Act of Settlement declares
that "the laws of England are the birthright of the people
thereof."
{415}
The correspondence and analogy between the principles of the
great charter, together with its successive commentaries and
confirmations, and those upon which the American Revolution
rests, are obvious and striking. We may particularly instance the
royal infringements upon the rights of the colonists, in refusing
assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary to the public
good; keeping up standing armies in time of peace without the
consent of the legislature; affecting to render the military
independent of and superior to the civil power; quartering armed
troops upon the inhabitants; imposing taxes upon them without
their consent; depriving them, in many cases, of the benefit of
trial by jury; and altering fundamentally the form of their
government.
Without a basis of right principle, the American Revolution would
have been a rebellion against legitimate authority, and the
people would have been deprived of that rectitude of conscience
which bore them through the war; they would have been demoralized
by the overthrow of their inbred loyalty, without which no free
government is secure. If there was not a violation of conscience
in withdrawing their allegiance to the British crown, it was
because they had sovereign rights which were above that
allegiance. It was because there was a Magna Charta which, in the
words of Coke, "would brook no sovran." The contest was for those
transmitted liberties which the American people claimed as a
birthright under the British Constitution. Nearly six centuries
divide 1776 from 1215; but the gulf is spanned by that arch of
immortal principles which was projected by Cardinal Stephen
Langton and his Catholic compeers in the meadow of Runnymede.
In violating the unity of Christendom in the sixteenth century,
England thus outraged the national conscience, and her disloyalty
to the truth that she had inherited for a thousand years was
followed by the oppression of her colonies, which finally led to
their separation from her. There was this great principle
involved in that contest, and this great difference in favor of
the colonists: England oppressed them, from her want of Catholic
guidance and restraint and the observance of her own organic
principle; _they_ resisted _her_ on that basis of
public right, and loyalty, and reason, which had been embedded in
the English Constitution by their common Catholic ancestry. Not
for the defence only of those rights, but for the knowledge of
them--for their very existence--were our ancestors indebted to
the Roman Catholic religion.
Upon the traditional laws and free principles of the English
Constitution, we have erected an unrivalled system of order and
right, while in English hands they have degenerated into a scheme
of legalized oppression which is without a parallel among nations
claiming to be free. Providence, acting on events, has so
disposed them that England's persecution of the faith has
transferred the Catholic population from that country to this,
where with the language are found also the true tradition and the
just development of the English Catholic constitution.
What is wanted to the perfection of American nationality is a
firm moral, that is, religious foundation. It is easily
susceptible of proof that no strong nationality has ever
subsisted without such a basis. I do not, of course, limit the
proposition to the Christian religion. But the foundation must be
the more stable as the religion which underlies and props it is
nearer to a conformity with unmixed truth. The first step in our
career of greatness was to turn from England and to advance
toward that unity which she had abandoned--when we seized upon
the traditional Catholic principles and defended them against her
attempted despotism.
{416}
The true course of our national welfare and security lies still
in the same direction--toward unity, and toward the Catholic
Church. For what is to supply the spiritual needs of this young,
and energetic, and glorious people? Surely not these transmitted
and transplanted heresies which have passed into their decline
and are tottering in their dotage. The creed which might answer
for some bounded island, a petty electorate, or a mountain canon,
is too narrow for this continental power, which needs a religion
confederate as its own union and wide as the expansion of its own
domain.
We have here many difficult and dividing moral questions already
pressing for a solution. The fusion of the Caucasian
tribes--already harmonized by the Catholic traditions, and never
very remotely divided by characteristics--will probably serve but
as the origination of a superior race: at least physiological
laws give no ground to fear a deterioration. But we have here a
numerous distinct race which must ever remain distinct, and which
increases more rapidly than the white population.
I am not aware that history furnishes an instance of the just
_reconciliation_ of two distinctly different races of men
upon the same soil, except by the aid of the Catholic religion.
In Mexico and in South America the Catholic religion is
establishing such a reconciliation, and it is the only
harmonizing element in those societies.
It is impossible to say what peaceful solution of the problem
will be reached here; but the ultimate destiny of the African
blood planted and rooted on this soil will be either adjudicated
upon Catholic principles, or else philanthropic theories, veil
them as we may, will apply to the evil the remedy still worse of
civil war. Questions like this demand a guide to conscience and a
clear and uniform exposition of moral obligations.
The United States government has never denied the due spiritual
authority of the Head of the Church--has never done aught to
infringe his just prerogatives. There has never been enacted here
an original or formal protest against the rights of the Apostolic
See.
This people have never thrown off the claims of the Catholic
religion, and they have not rejected it. The nation is not under
the ban of a misguided defiance of the right spiritual authority.
In no sense, therefore, has this nation as a nation compromised
itself as against those fundamental principles of unity and
liberty of which the Catholic Church is, in the spiritual order,
the true and only representative. As from her and her alone it
can receive the perpetual impulse of a free, progressive,
national development, so in yielding to her influence is it
guilty of no inconstancy to its organtic law, of no infidelity to
its historic past. The destiny which it is destined to accomplish
in the political depends upon the position which it voluntarily
assumes in the moral order, and this in turn upon the source from
which it drinks in the springs of its religious life.
It needs but to be true to its origin, its constitution, its
equity, and its ancestral virtues to become and to remain the
foremost of the nations of the earth. But truth to these
necessitates fidelity to her from whom visibly and directly not
only they, but all that is noble and elevating in art or arms or
civilization has originated, and in whom they have found an
impregnable defender--the Catholic Church, the Communion of the
Apostolic See.
----------
{417}
Translated From The Historisch-politische Blaetter.
Schaff's Church History.
In the year 1854 appeared a work of great merit, entitled _A
History of the Apostolic Church_, together with a _General
Introduction to Church History,_ from the pen of Philip
Schaff, a professor in the Lutheran Seminary at Mercersburg, and
a literary colleague of Dr. Nevin, called "the American
proto-martyr of the suffering church." At that time, Professor
Schaff, who is a native of Graubündten, in Switzerland, was
making a long stay in Europe. In the same year he published two
other works--_St. Augustine_, Berlin, 1854, pp. 129, a
brochure or precursor of the present large work, and
_America--the Political, Social, and Ecclesiastico-Religious
Condition of the United States_, which is a continuous eulogy
of his adopted country. That Dr. Schaff has for thirteen years
zealously prosecuted the study of ecclesiastical history, the
unusual size of the work before us sufficiently evinces. It is
dated from the Bible House in New York, January, 1867, and
dedicated to the teachers and friends of the author, August
Tholuck, Julius Müller of Halle, J. A. Dorner of Berlin, and J.
P. Lange of Bonn.
From the preface and dedication we learn that Schaff studied
exegesis in Tübingen under Dr. Schmid, history under Dr. Bauer,
and attended the lectures on systematic theology of Dr. Dorner.
At this time he resided in Halle, "under the hospitable roof" of
Tholuck, and by him and Julius Müller he was encouraged to choose
an academical career. Since his residence in North America he has
twice visited Europe, in 1854 and in 1865. His friends frequently
wished him to obtain a professor's chair in Germany, but he could
not determine to separate himself from a land in which since his
twenty-fifth year he had found a second home, and desired his
days to close in the "noble mediatorship between the Evangelical
Christianity of the German and English languages." His book shows
that he has defended in America, not altogether unworthily, the
German theology--"the true, liberal, catholic, and evangelical
theology."
An English translation of the present history of the ancient
church, entitled _History of the Christian Church; or, History
of Ancient Christianity,_ appeared at the same time. Editions
of this work were simultaneously published in New York and
Edinburgh, in the years 1859 and 1862. It is indeed a
continuation of _The Apostolic Church_, but, like it, a
separate work "it contains the fruits of twenty years' active
labor as professor of church history in Mercersburg,
Pennsylvania."
Dr. Schaff remained in New York two years, for the purpose of
availing himself of the use of its larger libraries. Here the
Astor Library was at his command.
{418}
This library, founded in the year 1850, by the German, John Jacob
Astor, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, has been
extensively increased by his son. It contains in a magnificent
building one hundred and fifty thousand carefully selected
volumes, among which are many costly and classic works on all
branches of literature. He had also access to the library of the
Union Theological Seminary, "which has purchased the Van Ess
Library, (that of the well-known Catholic Bible translator,) with
a collection of the fathers of the Church and the great learned
compilations; it has since been increased by the addition of the
library of E. Robinson, and the productions of recent Protestant
theology. It is worthy of remark that the libraries of our
celebrated German church historians find their way to America.
Thus, the Neander library has been for a length of time in the
Baptist Seminary at Rochester; the Thilo Library in Yale College,
New Haven; and the Niedner Library in the Congregationalist
Seminary at Andover. Neander's library, together with the
manuscript of his church history, are shelved in a separate room
at Rochester." This is unfortunately the customary way in which
the important libraries of German theologians find their way
either to England or North America, or, at least, are sold under
the hammer.
The author honors the truth when he acknowledges and prefers the
older and mostly Catholic investigators to the labors of
Protestant inquirers. He mentions the Benedictines in the
editions of the fathers of the church, the Bollandists in
hagiography, Mansi and Hardouin in the collection of the
councils, Gallandi, Dupin, Ceillier, Oudin, Cave, and J. A.
Fabricius in patrology and the history of church literature; in
particular branches he mentions Tillemont, Peteau, (Petavius,)
Bull, Bingham, and Walch as his favorite guides. Whether he will
prepare for the press his numerous manuscripts on the church
history of the middle ages and modern times, the author refers to
a distant and indefinite time. It will be done if "God grants him
time and strength." For the present, his leisure time will be
employed with the enlarged English edition of Lange's biblical
works.
The peculiarity of our author consists in working up and turning
to advantage the studies of others. In Schaff we find little or
no independent research, for which he needs both time and
inclination, but he excels in an exact and erudite employment of
that which has been prepared by others. We are not finding fault
with this, but rather approve of and commend it. In more personal
and independent investigation, the present lacks the results of
his previous intellectual labors. Dr. Schaff may make these once
more respected; indeed, he avails himself more extensively of the
labors of Catholic authors than any other modern Protestant
historian.
In a book so rich in its contents, we are obliged to confine
ourselves to a notice of special points only; we prefer this
limitation to an estimate of the general contents, which of
course embrace the ordinary well-known topics. The author treats
of the inner life of the church, monasticism, ecclesiastical
customs, worship, and Christian art more minutely than any of his
predecessors.
The author discusses more briefly than we expected the two
important chapters on the church's care of the poor, and of
prisoners and slaves.
{419}
The question of slavery is considered in paragraphs 89 and 152,
in _The History of the Apostolic Church_, paragraph 113, and
in a separate treatise published in 1861, _Slavery and the
Bible_. More than thirty-four years ago, as Möhler for the
first time treated of this subject, he could say that he had
searched with ardor both large and small works on church history
for the purpose of instructing himself on the mode of the
abolition of slavery, but all to no purpose; so that here he was
compelled to open the way himself. Frequently since that time
this question has been historically treated, but by no means
exhausted. With a few words Dr. Schaff dismisses the important
decrees of the Emperor Constantine in the years 316 and 321. He
only remarks: "Constantine facilitated their liberation, granted
Sunday to them, and gave ecclesiastics the privilege of
emancipating their slaves of their own will and without the
witnesses and ceremonies which were otherwise necessary." Here he
cites _Corpus Juris_, 1. i. art. 13, 1. 1 and 2. The fact
is, that the Emperor Constantine issued a command, April 18th,
321, to Bishop Hosius, of Cordova, according to which the
liberation of slaves in the Christian churches should have the
same effect as manumission under the Roman law. The principal law
of this decree reads thus: "Those who liberate their slaves in
the bosom of the church are declared to have done this with the
same authority as if it were done by the Roman state, with her
accustomed solemnities." This statute may be found in the
_Theodosian Code,_ lib. iv. tit. 7, _De Manumiss. in
Ecclesia_; Lex 2, _Codex Justin. De his, qui in Ecclesia
manumittuntur_. It is mentioned by Sozomen in the _Historia
Tripartita_, and by Nicephorus Callisti, vii. 18. It does not
appear to us that Dr. Schaff has seen the text of the decree; for
this does not refer only to the slaves of ecclesiastics, but to
slaves in general. Whoever declared in the church that his slaves
had received their liberty, they were from that fact free. Schaff
is of the opinion that Möhler, (who was also ignorant of this
decree,) in his able treatise on the abolition of slavery, has
overestimated the influence of the sermons of St. Chrysostom on
the subject, and we cannot say that he is entirely incorrect. On
the other hand, the latter raised the question of the so-called
_inner_ liberation of the slaves, that is, their Christian
treatment, the solicitude and care of Christian masters for their
servants. The emancipation of slaves who were not prepared for
liberty was always injurious to the slaves themselves, and not at
all promotive of the general welfare.
Dr. Schaff treats the life and teaching of St. Augustine with
becoming respect. He does him, however, a great injustice when he
makes him teach, after the example of Tertullian and St. Cyprian,
[Footnote 139] a symbolical doctrine of the Last Supper, which at
the same time includes a real spiritual repast through faith, and
thus in this respect he makes him approach the Calvinistic or
orthodox reformed doctrine. St. Augustine a Calvinist in the
doctrine of the Eucharist! But the few passages which Dr. Schaff
advances for this purpose prove directly the faith of St.
Augustine in the real, not in the symbolical, presence of Christ
in the sacrament of the altar. In his twenty-sixth tract on John
we read: "Who abides not in Christ, neither eats his flesh, nor
drinks his blood, even though he should press with his teeth the
sacrament of the body and blood of Christ."
[Footnote 139: It is Dr. Schaff, and not the author of the
article, who attributes this doctrine to the two writers
mentioned.--ED. C. W.]
{420}
Our Lord says: "He who eateth my body, and drinketh my blood,
abideth in me, and I in him." (John vi. 57.) Jesus refers to
those who receive it with living faith and devotion, since the
mere corporal partaking of the Eucharist is no abiding in Christ;
therefore St. Augustine could say, and so can every Catholic
teacher at the present time, "Who abides not in Christ, neither
eats (truly) his flesh, nor drinks his blood, even though he
should press with his teeth the sacrament of the body and blood
of Christ." The same doctrine is contained in the familiar hymn,
"_Sumunt boni, sumunt mali, sorte tamen inoequali, vitae vel
interitus_" [Footnote 140]
[Footnote 140: "The good and the bad receive, yet
with the different lot of life or of destruction."]
The wicked, then, who receive the body, receive it not to life,
but to judgment, for Christ lives not in them. With no better
reason can Schaff adduce the words of St. Augustine in the
preceding tract: "Why prepare your teeth and your stomach?
Believe and eat." Every Catholic teacher must declare the same;
it is not the corporal participation, but the spiritual
disposition, which is faith and love, which must be impressed
upon the mind of the faithful in receiving the Holy Eucharist.
Dr. Schaff is quite unfortunate in adducing the passage, (_De
peccator, meritis et rem_. ii. 25,) "Although it is not the
body of Christ, yet it is holy, since it is a sacrament." The
impression is created in the mind of the reader that St.
Augustine here denies in plain words the real presence of Christ.
When we examine more closely, it is found that the question is
not of the Eucharist at all, but of the blessed bread called
Eulogia, and of which catechumens were allowed to partake. The
entire passage runs thus: "Sanctification is not of one mode; for
I think that even catechumens are sanctified in a certain way
through the sign of Christ and the prayer of the imposition of
hands; and that which they receive, although it is not the body
of Christ, yet it is holy, more holy than the food by which we
are nourished, since it is a sacrament." Here the saint
distinguishes three kinds of food. First, that which is used for
sustenance; second, the Eulogia, or the blessed bread, which
catechumens received after they were set apart for the laying on
of hands and blessings--this is called a sacrament; and third,
the Eucharistic bread, which he calls the "body of the Lord."
This blessed bread (which twenty years ago the author saw handed
around in French churches) is indeed holier than common bread, a
very sacrament, or, as we would say, a _sacramental_, but
still it is not the body of the Lord. The real presence is, then,
taught in this passage, and Schaff would have been guilty of a
falsification if he had read it in its proper connection. For his
credit let us suppose that he has not done so. We find this
quotation in Professor Schmid's _Compendium of the History of
Dogma_, the first edition of which was often before Dr.
Schaff. Schmid at least permits the truth to appear (second
edition, p. 109) when he quotes St. Augustine saying, "That which
they receive, although it is not the body of Christ, yet it is
holy," etc. Since we find so many passages in St. Augustine,
which prove his belief in the real presence of our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament, we are bound to explain the other passages, in
which he speaks of a figurative partaking, in conformity with
them.
{421}
These defects, however, do not prevent us from heartily
acknowledging the excellence of Professor Schaff's work, and
expressing the hope that the author may employ his undoubted
talents in the service of Christian truth.
----------
Penitence.
A Sonnet.
A sorrow that for shame had hid her face,
Soared to Heaven's gate, and knelt in penance there
Beneath the dusk cloud of her own wet hair,
Weeping, as who would fain some deed erase
That blots in dread eclipse baptismal grace:
Like a felled tree with all its branches fair
She lay--her forehead on the ivory stair--
Low murmuring, "Just art Thou, but I am base."
Then saw I in my spirit's unsealed ken
How Heaven's bright hosts thrilled like the gems of morn
When May winds on the incense-bosomed thorn
The diamonds change to ruby. Magdalen
Arose, and kissed the Saviour's feet once more,
And to that suffering soul his peace and pardon bore.
Aubrey De Vere.
----------
{422}
New Publications.
Cradle Lands.
By Lady Herbert.
With Illustrations.
New-York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1869.
We welcome the appearance of this handsome volume with especial
heartiness and interest for at least two reasons. It is the first
attempt ever made by a Catholic publisher in this country to
produce an illustrated work, of other than a strictly religious
character, suitable as a holiday gift and valuable at the same
time from its intrinsic merit; and it is one of the few good
narratives in the English language of travel in the Holy Land
written by a devout Catholic, and filled consequently with a
genuine religious spirit. We have had Christmas books, annuals,
etc., some of them excellent in their way; but their way was
rather a narrow one, and we have never until now attempted to
rival the Protestant publishing-houses on their own ground.
_Cradle Lands_, however, is just the book which hundreds of
our friends will be glad to buy for presents, and hundreds more
will be glad to have for their own use. It is very handsomely
made, is clearly printed on excellent paper, and well bound; and
the illustrations, faithfully reproduced from the London edition,
are everything that could be desired.
The book is well worth the pains that have been spent on it. Lady
Herbert is an experienced traveller; with a quick eye for
whatever is interesting, and a style sufficiently lively to make
her chapters easy reading. She has not the graceful pen of a
Kinglake or a Curtis; but she is rarely or never dull, and her
power of description is by no means contemptible. But, as we said
before, a peculiar interest belongs to her narrative on account
of the spirit of Catholic piety which permeates it--not breaking
out inopportunely in religious commonplaces, but coloring the
scenes she paints with a graceful light of faith, and enticing us
to look upon the land of our Lord not with the eyes of modern
scepticism, but in the devout spirit in which a good Christian
ought to look at it. She travelled with a party of friends from
Egypt through Palestine, visiting the holy places, and afterward
passing into Asia Minor. She describes not only the venerable
relics of the past scattered through those sacred spots, and the
condition of the modern native population, but the state of
Christianity, the convents, schools, asylums, and other religious
foundations, in which she appears to have found frequent
hospitality. We need not follow her closely over ground which, in
its principal features, is already familiar to most of our
readers; but, as specimens of her style, we shall reproduce a few
episodical passages. Here is a picture of harem life, a subject
trite enough, yet always fresh:
"Before leaving Cairo, the English ladies were invited to spend
an evening in the royal harem, and accordingly, at eight
o'clock, found themselves in a beautiful garden, with
fountains, lit by a multitude of variegated lamps, and were
conducted by black eunuchs through trellis-covered walks to a
large marble-paved hall, where about forty Circassian slaves
met them, and escorted them to a saloon fitted up with divans,
at the end of which reclined the pacha's wives. One of them was
singularly beautiful, and exquisitely dressed in pink velvet
and ermine, and priceless jewels. Another very fine figure was
that of the mother, a venerable old princess, looking exactly
like a Rembrandt just come out of its frame. Great respect was
paid to her, and when she came in every one rose. The guests
being seated, or rather squatted, on the divan, each was
supplied with long pipes, coffee in exquisitely jewelled cups,
and sweetmeats, the one succeeding the other without
intermission the whole night. The Circassian slaves, with
folded hands and downcast eyes, stood before their mistresses
to supply their wants. Some of them were very pretty, and
dressed with great richness and taste. Then began a concert of
Turkish instruments, which sounded unpleasing to English ears,
followed by a dance, which was graceful and pretty; but this
again followed by a play, in which half the female slaves were
dressed up as men, and the coarseness of which it is impossible
to describe. The wife of the foreign minister kindly acted as
interpreter for the English ladies, and through her means some
kind of conversation was kept up. But the ignorance of the
ladies in the harem is unbelievable. They can neither read nor
write; their whole day is employed in dressing, bathing,
eating, drinking, and smoking.
{423}
"Before the close of the evening, Princess A----, addressing
herself to the mother of the party, through her interpreter,
spoke very earnestly and seriously about her daughters, (then
twelve and fourteen years of age,) remonstrating with her on
their being still unmarried, and adding: 'Next Friday is the
most auspicious of all days in the year for betrothal. I will
have six of the handsomest and straightest-eyebrowed pachas
here for you to choose from.' In vain the English lady refused
the intended honor, pleading that in her country marriages were
not contracted at so early an age, to say nothing of certain
differences of race and of faith! The princess was not to be
diverted from her purpose, and persisted in arranging the whole
of the Friday's ceremonial. Let us hope that the young
'straight-eyebrowed pachas' found some other fair ladies, to
console them for the non-appearance of their wished-for English
brides on the appointed day. The _soirée_ lasted till two
o'clock in the morning, when the royalty withdrew; and the
English ladies returned home, feeling the whole time as if they
had been seeing a play acted from a scene in the _Arabian
Nights_, so difficult was it to realize that such a kind of
existence was possible in the present century."
The original plan of our travellers was to proceed from Cairo
across the desert, but they were afterward obliged to choose an
easier route on account of the sickness of one of the party.
Preparations for the desert journey, however, had been made, and
there is a pleasant description of their outfit:
"At last, thanks to the kindness of an English gentleman long
resident in Cairo, Mr. A----, five tents were got together and
pitched, on approval, in the square opposite the hotel. One was
a gorgeous affair, sky-blue, with red-and-white devices all
over it, looking very like the tent of a travelling wild-beast
show. But as it was the only large and roomy one, and was
capable of containing the four ladies and their beds and
bedding, it was finally decided to keep it, and to make it the
drawing-room by day, reserving the more modest ones for the
gentlemen of the party, as well as for the servants and the
cooking apparatus. Their numbers were so great, with the
'tent-pitchers' and the other necessary camp-followers, that
our travellers decided to dispense with chairs and
tables--rather to the despair of a rheumatic member of the
company!--and to content themselves with squatting on their
carpets for their meals in true oriental fashion, and making
use of the two wicker-baskets (which were to sling on each side
of the mules, and contained the one dress for Sunday allowed to
each lady) for dressing and wash-hand stands. A cord fastened
across the tents at night served as a hanging wardrobe, to
prevent their getting wet on the (sometimes) damp ground; some
tin jugs and basins, with a smarter set in brass of a beautiful
shape, (called in Cairo a '_tisht_' and '_ibreek_,')
together with a few '_nargeeleh_' pipes for the use of
their guests on state occasions, completed their furnishing
arrangements. They had brought from their boats a 'Union Jack,'
so as to place themselves under the protection of their
country's flag, and also an elaborate 'Wyvern,' the fabrication
of which, in gorgeous green, with a curly tail, had afforded
them great amusement in their start four months before.
"This life in tents is a free and charming way of existence,
and, except in wet weather, was one of unmixed enjoyment to the
whole party. The time spent by the leaders of the expedition in
providing these necessary articles was occupied by the younger
ones in buying presents in the bazaars: now struggling through
the goldsmiths' quarter, (the narrowest in all Cairo,) where
you buy your gold by the carat, and then have it manufactured
before your eyes into whatever form you please; now trying on
bright '_kaffirs_' made of the pure Mecca silk, and
generally of brown and yellow shades, with the '_akgal_,'
a kind of cord of camel's-hair which binds them round the head;
or else the graceful burnous, with their beautifully blended
colors and soft camel's-hair texture; or the many
bright-colored slippers; or, leaving the silk and stuff bazaar,
threading their way through the stalls containing what we
should call in England 'curiosities,' and selecting the
beautiful little silver filagree or enamel cups called
'_zarfs_,' which hold the delicate, tiny Dresden ones
within--meant to contain that most delicious of all drinks,
the genuine Eastern coffee, made without sugar or milk, but as
unlike the horrible beverage known by that name in England as
can well be imagined!
{424}
In the same stalls were to be found beautiful Turkish
rosaries, of jasper and agate, or sweet-scented woods, with
long-shaped bottles of attar of roses, enamelled
'_nargeelehs_' and amber-mouthed pipes, and octagonal
little tables made of tortoise-shell inlaid with
mother-of-pearl."
Here is a good story of Egyptian law-courts:
"A certain French gentleman entrusted an Englishman with £90 to
buy a horse for him. The Englishman, accordingly, gave the
money to a native, whom he considered thoroughly trustworthy,
with orders to go into Arabia and there purchase the animal.
The Arab, however, spent most of the money in his own devices,
and returned to Cairo, after a few months, with a wretched
horse, such as would appear at a Spanish bull-fight. The
Englishman, immensely disgusted, returned the £90, to his
French friend, simply saying that he had failed in executing
his commission; but he determined to try and recover it from
the Arab. So he went and told the whole matter to the governor
of Cairo, who appointed his deputy as judge. While the case was
being tried, dinner-time came; and the judge, the prosecutor,
and the prisoner, all sat down together, and dined in a
friendly way. No embarrassment was caused thereby; but after
dinner, the judge, turning to the prisoner, quietly said: 'Can
you pay the Frank gentleman the money you owe him?' On
receiving a simple reply in the negative, the judge added,
'Then you had better go off at once to prison, and delay this
gentleman no longer.' The Arab went without a word, and
remained in this miserable place (for the prisons are infamous)
for two months, after which his brother took his place for him.
Finally the money was paid by instalments."
With the following beautiful description of a "Good-Friday
service at Jerusalem," we commend Lady Herbert's book to the
favor of our readers:
"It is a beautiful and solemn service, in which even
Protestants are seen to join with unwonted fervor; and on this
special day it was crowded to excess. When it was over, the two
friends returned to the altar of St. Mary Magdalen, the words
and tones of the hymn still lingering in their hearts:
'Jesu! dulce refugium,
Spes una te quaerentium.
Per Magdalenae meritum
Peccati solve debitum.'
To those who are sorrowful and desponding at the sense of their
own unworthiness and continual shortcomings, there is a peculiar
attraction and help in the thoughts of this saint, apart from all
the rest. The perfections of the Blessed Virgin dazzle us by
their very brightness, and make us, as it were, despair of
following her example. But in the Magdalen we have the picture of
one who, like us, was tempted and sinned and fell, and yet, by
the mercy of God and the force of the mighty love he put into her
heart, was forgiven and accepted for the sake of that very love
he had infused.
"Presently the English stranger rose, and, approaching one of
the Franciscan monks, begged for the benediction of her
crucifix and other sacred objects, according to the short form
in use at the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre; a privilege kindly
and courteously granted to her. And now the shades of evening
are darkening the aisles of the sacred building, and the
pilgrims are gathered in a close and serried mass in the Chapel
of Calvary, waiting for the ceremony which is to close the
solemn offices of that awful day. By the kindness of the duke,
who had been their companion in the Via Crucis, the two ladies
were saved from the crowd, and conducted by a private staircase
from the Greek chapel to the right of the altar of Calvary. The
whole is soon wrapped in profound darkness, save where the
light is thrown on a crucifix the size of life, erected close
to the fatal spot. You might have fancied yourself alone but
for the low murmur and swaying to and fro of the dense crowd
kneeling on the floor of the chapel. Presently a Franciscan
monk stepped forward, and, leaving his brethren prostrate at
the foot of the altar, mounted on a kind of estrade at the
back, and proceeded to detach the figure of our Blessed Lord
from the cross. As each nail was painfully and slowly drawn
out, he held it up, exclaiming, 'Ecce, dulces clavos!' exposing
it at the same time to the view of the multitude, who,
breathless and expectant, seemed riveted to the spot, with
their upturned faces fixed on the symbol represented to them.
The supernatural and majestic stillness and silence of that
great mass of human beings was one of the most striking
features of the whole scene. Presently a ladder was brought,
and the sacred figure lifted down, as in Rubens's famous
picture of the 'Deposition,' into the arms of the monks at the
foot of the cross.
{425}
As the last nail was detached, and the head fell forward as of
a dead body, a low deep sob burst from the very souls of the
kneeling crowd. Tenderly and reverently the Franciscan fathers
wrapped it in fine linen, and placed it in the arms of the
patriarch, who, kneeling, received it, and carried it down to
the Holy Sepulchre, the procession chanting the antiphon,
'Acceperunt Joseph et Nicodemus corpus Jesu; et ligaverunt
illud linteis cum aromatibus, sicut mos est Judaeis sepelire.'
The crowd followed eagerly, yet reverently, the body to its
last resting-place. It is a representation which might
certainly be painful if not conducted throughout with
exceeding care. But done as it is at Jerusalem, it can but
deepen in the minds of all beholders the feelings of intense
reverence, adoration, and awe with which they draw near to the
scene of Christ's sufferings, and enable them more perfectly
to realize the mystery of that terrible Passion which he bore
for our sakes in his own body on the tree.
"And with this touching ceremony the day is over; the crowd of
pilgrims disperses, to meet on the morrow in the same spot for
the more consoling offices of Easter-eve.
"But in many a heart the memory of this day will never be
effaced; and will, it is humbly hoped, bear its life-long fruit
in increased devotion to the sacred humanity of their Lord, and
in greater detestation of those sins which could only be
cancelled by so tremendous an atonement."
------
The Bird.
By Jules Michelet.
With 210 illustrations by Giacomelli.
New York: T. Nelson & Sons. 1868.
It is not often that nature finds so charming an interpreter as
Michelet. He throws around us the very perfume of the flowers;
and his birds not only sing, but sing to us, speak to us, and
become our dearest friends. Reading, we forget the close walls of
the city, the weary noise, the heavy air of overcrowded human
life; we follow the birds in their flight, drink in their spirit
of liberty, joy, tenderness, and love, till, with Michelet, we
almost give them a personality, a soul. It is difficult to cull
from a bed of choice flowers a single specimen, for one will
appeal to us through its beauty of form, another of color,
another by its delicacy and fragrance; so here, where every page
is charming, we know not how to choose between the grandeur and
magnificence of the tropical forests, or the stern and silent
melancholy of the polar regions, or the more home-like charm of
scenes that we know. The last, perhaps, cannot fail to please.
Here is his description of an autumnal migration:
"Bright was the morning sky, but the wind blew from La Vendée.
My pines bewailed their fate, and from my afflicted cedar
issued a low, deep voice of mourning. The ground was strewn
with fruit, which we all set to work to gather. Gradually the
weather grew cloudy, the sky assumed a dull leaden gray, the
wind sank, all was death-like. It was then, at about four
o'clock, that simultaneously arrived, from all points, from the
wood, from the Erdre, from the city, from the Loire, from the
Sèvre, infinite legions, darkening the day, which settled on
the church roof, with a myriad voices, a myriad cries, debates,
discussions. Though, ignorant of their language, it was not
difficult for us to perceive that they differed among
themselves. It may be that the youngest, beguiled by the warm
breath of autumn, would fain have lingered longer. But the
wiser and more experienced travellers insisted upon departure.
They prevailed; the black masses, moving all at once like a
huge cloud, winged their flight toward the south-east, probably
toward Italy. They had scarcely accomplished three hundred
leagues (four or five hours' flight) before all the cataracts
of heaven were let loose to deluge the earth; for a moment we
thought it was a flood. Sheltered in our house, which shook
with the furious blast, we admired the wisdom of the winged
soothsayers, which had so prudently anticipated the annual
epoch of migration."
This book was to the author a sort of oasis; it was undertaken or
rather grew up in the interval of a rest from historical labors;
it was for him a refreshment, a rest; and such it could not fail
to prove to any one of us in the midst of the weary cares of
every-day life. Unfortunately, Michelet has not interpreted
history so successfully as he has nature, and the results of his
labor are far less praiseworthy than the results of his
recreation.
{426}
_The Bird_ is most beautifully
illustrated by Giacomelli, Doré's
collaborateur on his celebrated Bible.
------
Tablets.
By A. Bronson Alcott.
Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1868.
No one who has ever enjoyed the pleasure of an interview with the
"Orphic Alcott," and felt the charm which his rare conversational
powers throw around every subject to which they are directed, can
fail to find a renewal of that pleasure while perusing the genial
volume which has just emanated from his too infrequent pen.
Elegant in its external garniture, it brings upon its pages the
faint odor of the roses that bloom on the broad Concord lawns,
the rustle of the leaves that shelter the secluded nook in which
the writer finds "the leisure and the peace of age," the cool air
that floats across clear Walden-water, filling both library and
studio with its bracing breath; so giving to the reader, familiar
with the scenes amid which these _Tablets_ were inscribed, a
double satisfaction in the thoughts which they suggest and in the
memories which they revive.
The book itself consists of two series of essays: the first,
"Practical;" the second, "Speculative." The former will most
interest the ordinary reader. The latter will be appreciated by
few who are not otherwise instructed in the peculiar views of
their author. The "Practical" essays are entitled "The Garden,"
"Recreation," "Fellowship," "Friendship," "Culture," "Books,"
"Counsels," and each is subdivided into different heads.
Hackneyed as several of these subjects appear to be, the reader
will experience no sense of weariness while following Mr. Alcott
over them. Were not his ideas original, "the method of the man"
would be alone sufficient to give an interest of no common order
to his well-weighed words. Many of his aphorisms are like "apples
of gold in pictures of silver;" and some deserve to become
household truths with all thoughtful men. Such is his verdict
upon political partisanship on page 148; his strong, courageous
plea for individuality on page 145; and his high view of
education on pages 103 _et seq_. From these and various
other passages, which space alone forbids us to distinguish, we
may say that, if "a man's speech is the measure of his culture,"
there are few men into whose sphere one can be brought whose
kindliness and courtesy, whose flowing spirits and sprightly wit,
can more captivate and charm than the gray-haired student who
sits in the arbors, groves, and gardens, and day by day treasures
up on the tablets of his diary the choice things of mankind, and
illustrates them with choice memories of his own.
At this period of Mr. Alcott's life, we anticipated, in reading
his _Tablets_, which speak so charmingly of this world,
finding some light shed on the world to come. It makes us sad to
think we found nothing.
------
A New Practical Hebrew Grammar,
With Hebrew-English And English-Hebrew Exercises,
And Hebrew Chrestomathy.
By Solomon Deutsch, A.M., Ph.D.
New York: Leypoldt & Holt. 1868.
Text-books should be valued according to the perfection of the
method adopted, and the precision and arrangement of details,
rather than on account of abundance of matter or exhaustive
explanations. Books which contain copious treatises are useful,
and even necessary, for the master, but injurious to the
advancement of the pupil. The author of the school-book should
aim at arranging the elements in the department in which he
writes so that the scholar may, with the least trouble, acquire a
knowledge of the rules, principles, and leading features of the
subject. Students should not be expected to learn everything in
school. The professor who aims at imparting a complete knowledge,
or all he may know on a subject, will confuse his students, be
found too exacting, and will be finally punished by
disappointment. School exercise was very appropriately called
_disciplina_ by the Romans, a term which implied rather a
training in the manner in which the various branches should be
studied, than the attainment of their mastery.
{427}
Mr. Deutsch's Hebrew course, according to the principles just
enunciated, is beyond doubt the best schoolbook of its kind that
has appeared from the American press. Rödiger's revision of
Gesenius's Grammar, translated from the German by Conant, is much
too extensive for beginners, and was never intended by its
eminent author to fall into the hands of the uninitiated. Yet it
is commonly used in the colleges and seminaries of this country
as an introductory treatise. The same objection should be urged,
in union with others, against Green's Grammar; while his
chrestomathy is more of an exegetical than a grammatical
treatise. The student is frequently terrified from the study by
the vast array of particulars, and he who has courage to
persevere must learn to shut his eyes to the greater portion of
these works, in order to clearly discern that which is truly
valuable in them.
Mr. Deutsch has succeeded, to a considerable extent, in giving a
concise and lucid exposition of the elements of the Hebrew
language, but has greatly diminished, if not destroyed, the
usefulness of his grammar as a class-book by introducing his
elaborate system of "Hebrew-English and English-Hebrew
exercises." These exercises, which compose the greater portion of
his work, will be found to be merely cumbersome material, which
will prevent its adoption in the schools.
Living languages, or such as are partially so, might be, perhaps
should be, learned by acquiring a facility of rendering the
phrases of one's mother tongue into those of the language he is
endeavoring to acquire; but it is not easy to understand how such
a readiness can be, or need be, acquired in Hebrew, which is
nowhere spoken, and living in no form if not in its degenerate
offspring, the rabbinic of the Portuguese, German, or Polish
Jews.
Those who are looking for a concise and lucid exposition of the
elements of Hebrew will not be pleased with Mr. Deutsch's
repetition of the nine declensions of nouns, as given by
Gesenius. This constitutes an additional encumbrance to the work,
not unlike that which would arise in a Latin grammar from an
attempt to form a new declension from each of the various
inflections embraced in the third.
A Hebrew course for Catholic schools has been supplied, as to the
more important part, and the portion requiring the greater amount
of labor, by Paul L. B. Drach, in his _Catholicum Lexicon
Hebraicum et Chaldaicum_. Mr. Drach had been a Jewish rabbi in
Paris before his conversion to the Church, and as he was an
eminent oriental scholar, the last Pontiff, Gregory XVI.,
requested him to publish a Hebrew lexicon for the use of Catholic
schools. His work resulted in a corrected and enlarged edition of
Gesenius' Lexicon, from which all Jewish and rationalistic errors
were excluded. It received the special approbation of Pius IX. in
1847, and was published by the greatest promoter of
ecclesiastical literature in this century, Abbé Migné. This is
undoubtedly the best work of its kind, and its complement,
consisting of a grammar and chrestomathy, is all that is wanting
to constitute a course of Hebrew for the Catholic schools of this
country.
------
The New Adam; or, Ten Dialogues on our
Redemption and the Necessity of Self-Denial.
Edited by the Very Rev. Z. Druon, V.G., and approved
by the Right Rev. Bishop of Burlington.
Claremont, N. H. 1868.
This little book was first published in Paris, A.D. 1662. From a
second and more complete edition, the present translation was
prepared and edited. The subjects of the "Ten Dialogues" are as
follows:
I. The State of Original Righteousness.
II. Adam's Fall.
III. The Penance of Adam and Eve after their Fall.
IV. The State of Penance we are in is preferable, in some
respects, to the earthly Paradise.
V. The Infinite Perfection with which Jesus Christ, the new
Adam, performed the penance imposed on the old Adam.
VI. Self-Denial.
VII. Obligation of Self-Denial.
VIII. Imitation of the Self-Denial of Christ.
IX. Scriptural texts concerning Self-Denial.
X. The Self-Denial of Jesus Christ.
From this view of its contents, and the cursory glance we have
been able to bestow upon its pages, we believe it to be, as its
editor claims, "well grounded on the Holy Scriptures, sound in
doctrine, remarkable for its clearness and depth of thought, full
of pious and practical reflections, instructive, and, at the same
time, interesting and pleasing."
------
{428}
The Life Of St. Thomas À Becket, of Canterbury.
By Mrs. Hope, author of _The Early Martyrs_, etc.
With a Preface, by the Rev. Father Dalgairns,
of the London Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
16mo, pp. xxiv., 398.
London: Burns, Gates & Co.
New York: The Catholic Publication Society.
Veneration for the memory of St. Thomas, of Canterbury, has
undergone recently a remarkable revival in England, and this
meritorious compilation by Mrs. Hope is one of the fruits of it.
She has drawn most of her materials from the more elaborate
biographies by the Rev. Dr. Giles and the Rev. John Morris, and
from the _Remains_ of the Rev. R. H. Froude, and, of course
makes no pretension to the rank of an original investigator; but
she has done a very serviceable work nevertheless, and, upon the
whole, has done it well. Her narrative is interesting and rapid.
The style possesses the merit--rare with female writers on
religious subjects--of directness and simplicity; the story
being unencumbered by either ambitious rhetoric or commonplace
reflections. From this reason, as well as from the care with
which she seems to have studied the subject, the book not only
gives us an insight into the saint's personal character, but
leaves on the reader's mind a very clear comprehension of the
nature of that long struggle for the rights of the Church and for
the independence of the spiritual order which resulted in his
martyrdom, and which modern historians have done so much to
obscure. Mrs. Hope is rather too fond of telling dreams, which
she apparently half-believes and half does not believe to have
been prophetic inspirations, although most of them were like the
answers of the pagan oracles--susceptible of almost any
interpretation, and only to be understood in the light of
after-events; but that is a habit which she borrowed of the
mediaeval chroniclers, and she shares it with a very large class
of modern biographers. Of course, God may speak to man in a dream
as well as in other ways; but when the dreams are clearly
referable to distinct physical causes, as some of those recorded
in this book are, when, in fact, they are just like ordinary
nightmares, the attempt to elevate them to the dignity of
supernatural visions is more pious than prudent.
The preface, by Father Dalgairns, comprises a very effective
answer to some of the misrepresentations in Dean Stanley's life
of the saint, contained in the _Memorials of Canterbury_.
------
Vermont Historical Gazetteer:
A Magazine embracing a digest of the History of each town,
civil, educational, religious, geological, and literary.
Edited by Abby Maria Hemenway,
compiler of _The Poets and Poetry of Vermont_.
Burlington, Vt. 1860-1868.
We have received the first eleven numbers of this magazine. The
authoress has evidently endeavored to produce a first-class work
of its kind, and has, to a great extent, succeeded. It is to be
regretted, however, that some of the numbers are printed on
inferior paper, a serious fault in a work of so much local
interest and so permanent a character.
Miss Hemenway does not content herself with the historical and
topographical, as is usual with the authors who produce most of
our local annals. Biography and literature form a large portion
of her work. Art also lends its charm, and adorns her pages with
portraits of distinguished men and representations of memorable
scenes. To us the work seems almost exhaustive. The Green
Mountain State has reason to congratulate itself on so laborious
and persevering a historian, and its sons should certainly reward
her toil with the most prompt and liberal pecuniary recognition.
------
{429}
Gropings After Truth.
A Life Journey from New England Congregationalism
to the One Catholic and Apostolic Church.
By Joshua Huntington.
New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1868.
This little work, which has been some weeks before the public in
pamphlet form and already promises to shed "light in many dark
places" in the hearts of candid seekers after truth, has at last
been issued in a permanent and elegant edition. It is with great
pleasure that we commend it to our readers, not only for their
own perusal, but for distribution among their non-Catholic
acquaintances and friends. As the Reverend Father Hewit says in
his preface, the impulse toward a new and more vigorous life
"will be quickened and directed in many souls" by the present
volume; and we believe that few whose earlier religious life was
similar to that of Mr. Huntington can read the book without
misgivings for themselves, and a longing to discover, by some
means, that peace and light which the author deems himself to
have attained. That God will make known this truth and bestow
this peace to them and to all others is, as it should be, the
chief object of our labors and our prayers.
------
An Outline Of Geography For High
Schools And Families. With an Atlas.
By Theodore S. Fay.
New York: G. P. Putnam & Son. 1867.
We are inclined to regard this work as a very valuable aid to the
study of its subject, which is treated more scientifically in it
than in any other equally elementary book which we have seen. The
plan is decidedly original, and evidently is the result of
careful thought, aided apparently by experience.
Prominence is given in it to the astronomical and physical
aspects of the earth. The political division, which from its
artificial and mutable character is an obstacle to a clear view
of geography in its unity, is kept in the background, but is by
no means neglected. A map showing the changes produced by the war
of 1866 may be specially mentioned in this connection.
The astronomical part is very full, and in the main correct;
there are, however, a few inaccuracies, as in the time occupied
by light in coming from Neptune, and in the statement that the
sun could hardly be distinguished in brightness from a fixed star
by an observer on that planet. But these are small matters. The
explanations in this part are clear and interesting, and the
reticence of the author on points beyond the scope he has
proposed to himself is specially commendable. To satisfy the
student without misleading or puzzling him is an admirable
talent.
We doubt the propriety of the items of historical information
occasionally introduced; they seem unnecessary, and spoil the
unity of the work.
Considering the strength of memory generally possessed in youth,
the advantage claimed by the author that his method makes no
direct demand upon this faculty seems doubtful; but, as he states
in the preface, the work must be used to be judged; and the
lessons can be memorized if desired.
We must protest against the use of small initial letters in the
national adjectives; as british, french, etc.
The maps deserve the highest praise for their conception and
execution.
------
Asmodeus In New York.
New York: Longchamp & Co. 1868.
This work appeared last year in Paris, and is now translated and
published in this country by the author. It pretends to give an
inside view of American society, and to do this the author picks
out all that is bad, vicious, and immoral in this country, North
and South, and calls this conglomeration "American Society." He,
however, should have told his readers that the first specimen of
"American Society" he presented them was that of _one of his
own countrywomen!_ We need hardly say that most of the other
characters in the book are as good samples of American society as
those given in the first chapter.
------
{430}
The Holy Communion: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Practice.
By John Bernard Dalgairns,
Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
1 vol. 12mo, pp. 440.
New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1868.
The Catholic Publication Society has just issued an American
edition of this work, which has been for a long time much sought
after in this country. We take occasion to recommend it as one of
the very best works on its august theme in the English language.
The most remarkable and original portion of the work is that
which treats of the philosophy of transubstantiation. The author
has handled this difficult and abstruse matter with masterly
ability, explaining the doctrine of various philosophical schools
respecting substance and accidents with clearness and precision,
and has furnished most satisfactory answers to rational
objections against the Catholic dogma. Both Catholics and those
who are investigating Catholic doctrine will find this volume one
of great interest and utility.
------
The Roman Martyrology.
Translated into English, with an introduction
by the Archbishop of Baltimore.
Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1868.
One of the most beautifully executed books which has been issued
by the Catholic press in this country, printed in the ritualistic
style, with red marginal lines and red edges. The publication of
books of devotion which are standard and have the sanction of the
Roman Church cannot be too much encouraged, and we cordially
congratulate the enterprising publishers who have added this gem
to our collection.
------
Sydnie Adriance; or, Trying the World.
By Amanda M. Douglas, author of
_In Trust, Stephen Dane, Claudia_, etc.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. Pp. 355. 1869.
Those who read novels, and their name is Legion, will find
this--the latest production of Miss Douglas's pen--nowise
inferior to its predecessors. While avoiding the sensational
characters and incidents, her language is always pleasing and
unaffected.
------
The Life And Times Of Robert Emmet.
By R. R. Madden, M.D., M.R.I. A.
With numerous Notes and
Additions, and a Portrait on Steel.
Also, A Memoir Of Thomas Addis Emmet,
with a Portrait on Steel.
New York; P. M. Haverty. Pp. 328. 1868.
Few, if any, of the Irish patriots of modern days have a stronger
hold on the affection of the people than Robert Emmet. Perhaps,
with the exception of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, we might have
written none other. His deep love of country, his abiding trust
in her future, his daring but futile attempt to accomplish her
liberation, his death upon the scaffold, these were his, in
common with many others, who are remembered but with gratitude,
not, like him, treasured in the popular heart. Like our own
immortal Washington--the man is loved, the patriot revered.
This history of his life and times should find readers wherever a
friend to liberty dwells; but for us, this volume has a special
interest, containing, as it does, a _Memoir of Thomas Addis
Emmet,_ the last twenty-three years of whose life were spent
in this city, and whose monument may be said to form one of the
sights of the metropolis. The volume is very neatly got up; the
steel portraits excellent, both as likenesses and works of art.
------
{431}
Memoirs Of The Life Of The Right
Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
By Thomas Moore.
New York: W. J. Widdleton. 2 vols. pp. 307, 335.
Moore's _Life of Sheridan_ has long since passed beyond the
province of the critic. We will, therefore, merely call attention
to the present edition as being very handsomely got up;
containing, also, a very fine portrait of Sheridan, after the
original painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. We ought, perhaps, in
this connection, to award a meed of praise to the enterprising
publisher for placing within reach of all, books such as this,
which, as of standard excellence, should be, but were not, of
easy access.
------
The Poetical Works Of Thomas Moore.
Brooklyn and New York: William M. Swayne. Pp. 496.
Moore's complete works for fifty cents! Truly, a marvel of
cheapness. The typography--something unusual in cheap books--is
very good.
------
Marks's First Lessons In Geometry,
objectively presented and designed for the Use of
Primary Classes in Grammar Schools, Academies, etc.
By Bernhard Marks, Principal of Lincoln
School, San Francisco.
New York: Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co. Pp. 157. 1869.
We can unhesitatingly recommend this little work. We have often
felt the need of just such a text-book as this, and have no doubt
its appearance will be hailed with equal pleasure by both
teachers and pupils. The style in which it is got up reflects the
highest credit on the publishers.
------
A Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America.
By Nathaniel H. Bishop.
Boston: Lee & Shepard. Pp. 310. 1869.
A journey on foot of more than a thousand miles across the South
American continent, from Montevideo to Valparaiso, could not but
furnish to an inquiring mind and an adventurous spirit abundant
material for interesting detail and startling incidents, and of
these there is certainly no scarcity in the present volume. There
are some portions, however, open to objection, where allusion is
made to the religion of the people, less, indeed, it must be
confessed, than we almost, as a matter of course, expect from
Protestant tourists in Catholic countries; and some attempted
caricaturing of the Irish residents, which might be deemed
insulting if they were not so very puerile. These excepted, it is
a book both useful and entertaining.
------
The Trotting Horse Of America--
How To Train And Drive Him.
With Reminiscences Of The Trotting Turf.
By Hiram Woodruff.
Edited by Charles J. Foster, of _Wilkes's Spirit of the Times_.
Including an Introductory Notice by George Wilkes, and
a Biographical Sketch by the Editor.
New York: J. B. Ford & Co. Pp. 412. 1868.
The papers comprising this work were originally published in
_Wilkes's Spirit of the Times_, and are a record of the
author's forty years' experience in training and driving. While
especially intended for those who are interested in the breeding,
training, etc., of horses, there is abundance of matter likely to
prove attractive to the general reader; biographies, so to speak,
of famous trotters, whose names are familiar as household words;
and graphic descriptions of the various matches in which they
were engaged. In fact, it is one of those rare books which, while
got up for a special purpose, and seemingly suited to the few,
overleaps the narrow limits apparently prescribed, and attracts
to itself the favorable notice of the entire community.
It makes a very handsome volume, is neatly bound, well printed,
and illustrated with a fine steel portrait of the author.
------
{432}
Synodus Dioecesana Baltimorensis Septima, etc.
Joannes Murphy, Baltimore. 1868.
The constitutions adopted at the above
Synod of September 3d, 1868, were:
1. Of the Publication of the Decrees of the Plenary Council of
Baltimore.
2. Of the Officers of the Archbishopric and the Government of
Dioceses.
3. Of the Pastoral Care of Souls.
4. Of the Sacraments.
5. Of Divine Worship.
6. Of Discipline.
------
The Two Women.
A Ballad, written expressly for the ladies of Wisconsin.
By Delta.
Milwaukee. 1868.
A poem in five parts, celebrating the creation of Eve and the
motherhood of Mary.
------
M. Duruy's History Of France.
Several esteemed correspondents have written to the editor of
this magazine expressing regret at the commendatory notice of the
above work, which appeared in our columns. Our judgment and
sympathy are entirely with Mgr. Dupanloup in his contest against
M. Duruy respecting religious education. This does not, however,
affect the question of the value of his book as a secular classic
and a manual of political and civil history. In respect to the
ecclesiastical portion of the history, it is very true that the
work is deficient; nevertheless, it is far superior to the
English historical works which our readers, whether Protestant or
Catholic, are likely to be familiar with; and we think that, in
spite of the author's liberalistic bias, the general tone and
effect of the work justifies our recommendation. If any of our
correspondents will send us a history of France equal to this in
other respects, and at the same time perfectly Catholic in its
spirit, we will gladly recommend it in preference. We will add,
however, that it is not for sale at the Catholic Publication
House.
------
The Catholic Publication Society will publish _The Illustrated
Catholic Family Almanac_ on November 25th. It will be sold for
25 cents a copy. The same Society will issue, on December 1st,
_The New Illustrated History of Ireland_.
------
Mr. Donahoe, Boston, has just published
_Verses on Various Occasions_,
by John Henry Newman, D.D.
------
Books Received.
From D. APPLETON & Co., New York:
Mental Science; a Compendium of Psychology, and the History of
Philosophy. Designed as a text-book for High-Schools and
Colleges.
By Alexander Bain, M.A., Professor of Logic and Mental
Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, author of "The Senses
and the Intellect," "The Emotions of the Will," etc. etc.
Pp. 428; Appendix, 99. 1868.
------
From CHARLES SCRIBNER & Co., New York:
Guyot's Elementary Geography for Primary Classes.
Felter's First Lessons in Numbers. An illustrated
Table Book designed for elementary instruction.
------
Footprints Of Life; Or, Faith And Nature Reconciled.
By Philip Harvey, M.D.
New York: Samuel R. Wells. 1868.
------
D. & J. SADLIER & Co., New York:
Outlines of the History of Ireland.
Being the substance of a lecture
recently delivered at Honesdale.
By Rev. J. J. Doherty.
In behalf of the Sunday-schools.
Pp. 35.
A new edition of Carleton's Valentine
McClutchy.
----------
{433}
The Catholic World.
Vol. VIII., No. 46 January, 1869.
------
Galileo-Galilei, [Footnote 141]
The Florentine Astronomer.
1564-1642.
[Footnote 141: _Galileo--The Roman Inquisition_.
Cincinnati. 1844.
_Galileo e l'Inquisizione._ Marino-Marini. Roma. 1850.
_Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie_. Par
Libri. Paris. 1838.
_Notes on the Ante-Galilean Copernicans_. Prof. De
Morgan. London. 1855.
_Opere di Galileo-Galilei_. Alberi. Firenze. 1842-1856.
16 vols. imp. 8vo.
_Galileo-Galilei, sa Vie, son Procès et ses
Contemporains_. Par Philarète Chasles. Paris. 1862.
_Galileo and the Inquisition_. By R. Madden. London.
1863.
_Galilée, sa Vie, ses Découvertes et ses Travaux_. Par
le Dr. Max Parchappe. Paris. 1866.
_Galilée_. Tragédie de M. Ponsard. Paris. 1866.
_La Condamnation de Galilée_. Par M. l'Abbé Bouix.
Arras. 1866.
_Articles on Galileo, in Dublin Review_. 1838-1865.
_Articles on Galileo, in Revue des Deux Mondes_.
1841-1864.
_Mélanges Scientifiques et Littéraires_. Par J. B.
Biot. 3 vols. Paris. 1858.
_Galilée, les Droits de la Science et la Méthode des
Sciences Physiques_. Par Thomas Henri Martin. Paris.
1868.]
"Even so great a man as Bacon rejected the theory of Galileo
with scorn. ... Bacon had not all the means of arriving at a
sound conclusion which are within our reach; and which secure
people who would not have been worthy to mend his pens from
falling into his mistakes."
--Macaulay.
An Unwritten Chapter.
Galileo's "connection with a political party, unfriendly to
religion as well as to the papal government," is correctly
referred to by the _Edinburgh Review_ as one of the causes
of his difficulties concerning a question upon which Copernicus
met with none whatever.
Our space will not permit us to treat this interesting chapter of
the Galileo story, or we might show that not only such a
connection, but Galileo's associations with the partisans and
friends of such men (and in some cases with the men themselves)
as Sarpi, (Fra Paolo,) Antonio de Dominis, etc. etc., contributed
powerfully to encourage in him an insulting aggressiveness that
even the indulgent admonition of 1616 could not restrain.
In various ways, these men stirred up strife that might otherwise
have slumbered, and instigated Galileo to fresh infractions of a
rule by which he had solemnly promised to abide. They are
referred to by the _North British Review_ (Nov., 1860) in
energetic language as "the band of sceptics who hounded him on to
his ruin."
{434}
In like manner, since we have spoken of the treatment of Urban at
Galileo's hands, we cannot, for want of space, dwell upon the
personal bearing of Urban toward him after the trial was resolved
upon. The law that compelled the trial was as binding upon the
pope as upon any layman. It had to be fulfilled; but so far as
Urban's personal demeanor and acts are evidence, there was
nothing in them, and nothing in his heart, but kindness,
forbearance, and generosity toward the offender; and it will be
remembered that he carried these so far as to allow the decree of
the Inquisition to go forth unsigned and unconfirmed by him.
If revenge for any conceived personal affront had actuated him,
he could, by his signature and approval, have given that decree a
vigor and a value it could never otherwise possess.
We resume the thread of our relation, and proceed to recount the
main facts of
The Trial.
Galileo was now summoned to Rome to answer for his infraction of
the injunction of 1616.
The summons was issued September 23d, 1632. There was, however,
neither hurry nor precipitation; and after a delay of some
months, caused partly by Galileo's endeavors to have the trial
deferred, partly by his illness, and partly by the prevalence of
an epidemic in Florence, he reached Rome on the 13th of February,
1633, and became the guest of the Tuscan ambassador.
Still there appears to have been no haste with the proceedings,
and Galileo passed his time in perfect freedom, surrounded by his
friends and the attentions of his noble host, who could not help
remarking that this was the first instance he had ever heard of
in which a person cited before the Inquisition--even though they
were nobles or bishops or prelates--was not held in strict
confinement.
When, at last, Galileo's presence at the holy office was
absolutely indispensable, the best and most commodious rooms were
placed at his disposition, and his formal interrogatory commenced
April 12th.
On the termination of this preliminary examination, he was
assigned the more spacious and pleasant apartments of the Fiscal
of the Inquisition.
"Galileo," says Mr. Drinkwater, "was treated with unusual
consideration;" and Sir David Brewster states that "during the
whole trial, which had now commenced, Galileo was treated with
the most marked indulgence."
On the 22d of April, the commissary charged with the conduct of
the trial was ready to proceed, but postponed it on Galileo's
statement that he was suffering from severe pain in his thigh.
So matters rested, until, on the 30th, Galileo asked for a
resumption of the examination, and presented a complete and utter
disavowal of his book and its principles. He declared that,
having again read over his _Dialogues_, in order to examine
whether, contrary to his express intention, he had inadvertently
disobeyed the decree of 1616, he found that two arguments were
too strongly presented; that they were not conclusive, and could
be easily refuted. "If I had to present them now," he said, "I
should assuredly do it in terms that would deprive them of the
weight they apparently have, but which in reality they do not
possess."
His error, he admitted, arose from a vain ambition, pure
ignorance and inadvertence: "_E stato dunque l'error mio, e lo
confesso, di una vana ambitione, e di una pura ignoranza e
inavertenza._"
{435}
Galileo's Voluntary Retraction.
Here the examination closed for the day; but Galileo voluntarily
returned, and reopened it with the declaration ("_et post
paululum rediens dixit_") that he had not held the condemned
opinion of the earth's motion, and that he was ready, if time
were granted him, to prove it clearly.
"I will take up," said he, "the argument in my _Dialogues_,
and will refute with all possible energy the arguments presented
in favor of that opinion."
He closes by reiterating his request to be allowed the
opportunity of putting these resolutions in execution: "_Prego
dunque questo S. Tribunals che voglia concorrer meco in questa
buona risolutione col concedermi facoltà di poterle metter in
effetto_."
It is painful to see a man's convictions so lightly held. Why,
all this voluntary proffer is more than was imposed on Galileo by
the decree of 1616, and no more than assumed by the decree of
1633, not yet pronounced!
Alas, poor Galileo! Of such stuff martyrs never yet were made.
It seems strange that this phase and these incidents of the trial
should never have been commented upon, as showing the scientific
question to be entirely secondary in the estimation of the
Congregation.
Had that question been the only point or the important point,
this voluntary retraction, confession of judgment, plea of
guilty, offer of reparation, and self-imposed sentence on the
part of Galileo should have been more than sufficient to end the
case, and leave naught for the tribunal to do but to put the
self-imposed sentence in legal form.
But not so. As Galileo well knew, he might have gone on to the
end of his life teaching, in peace and honor, the astronomy
taught by Copernicus and others for the previous century.
Copernicanism was not his crime, and therefore his retraction, as
made, could not reach his criminal infraction of the decree of
1616, and of his own solemn pledges, nor could it modify the
accusation of deception in the matter of the license to print his
_Dialogues_, and the improper means taken to obtain that
license.
The Trial Goes On.
On the same day Galileo made his voluntary retraction, he was
permitted to return to the palace of the Tuscan ambassador.
On the 10th of May, he was notified that a further delay of eight
days would be allowed him for the preparation of a defence, when
he immediately presented it already prepared, in a written
statement of two pages, accompanied by the Bellarmine certificate
of 1616.
Meanwhile, the Congregation deliberated; and such was the
friendly feeling in Rome toward Galileo that, as late as the 21st
of May, Cardinal Capponi thought he would be acquitted.
Giuducci asserted it positively, and Archbishop Piccolomini made
preparations to take Galileo with him to Sienna as his guest.
A large mass of documentary evidence, letters, reports, etc., had
accumulated in the case, and on the 16th of June a preliminary
decree was entered, by which Galileo was enjoined from writing
either _for_ or _against_ the theory of the earth's
motion, ("_injuncto ei ne de cetero scripto vel verbo tractet
amplius quovis modo de mobilitate terrae nec de stabilitate soils
et e contra_" etc.)
{436}
On the 21st of June, Galileo was interrogated, and stated in his
replies that, before the decree of 1616, he had held both
opinions as to the sun or the earth being the centre of the
world; but that since that time, convinced of the prudence of his
superiors, all doubt had ceased in his mind, and he had adopted
as true and undoubted the opinion of Ptolemy; that in his
_Dialogues_ he had explained the proofs that might be urged
against one or the other system, but without deciding for either.
To this he was answered that he asserts positively the immobility
of the sun and the movement of the earth, and that he must make
up his mind to acknowledge the truth, or that he should be
proceeded against according to the law and the facts of the case,
"_devenietur contra ipsum ad remedia juris et facti
opportuna._"
Again Galileo replies that he neither holds nor has held that
opinion of Copernicus since he received the order to abandon it.
Being admonished that, if he does not tell the truth, he refuses
under penalty of torture, "_et ei dicto quod dicat veritaiem
alias devenietur ad torturam,_" he replies, "_Io son qua per
far l'obedienza e non ho tennta questa opinione dopo la
determinatione fatta come ho detto_," "I am here to make my
submission. I do not hold and have not held this opinion since
the determination taken as I have already stated."
"_Et cum nihil aliud_" proceeds the record, "_posset
haberi in executionem decreti, habita ejus subscriptione,
remissus fuit ad locum suum_." [Footnote 142]
(Signed) _Io_, Galileo-Galilei,
"_ho deposto come di sopra._."
[Footnote 142: "And as nothing else remained to be done, he
signed the record, and was sent back to his place of abode."]
On the following day, (Wednesday, June 22d, 1633,) Galileo
appeared again before the Congregation to hear the decree in his
case, and pronounce his abjuration.
The Decree [Footnote 143]
[Footnote 143: So far as it relates to the scientific
question, this decree was suspended by Benedict XIV., and
repealed in full consistory by Pius VII. Meantime, his
_Dialogues_ were repeatedly published in Italy with all
the usual ecclesiastical approbations. The edition in the
Astor Library is that of Padua, 1744, and shows what we here
state.]
was based upon and mainly taken up with the recital of the
proceedings of 1615, the injunction of 1616, the violation of
that injunction, the effect of the Bellarmine certificate, the
violation of Galileo's pledges, the improper means taken to
obtain the license to print his _Dialogues_, and his
confessions and excuses. There was no discussion of the
scientific question.
"Wherefore," recites the decree, "as here," namely, in the
Bellarmine certificate, "there is no mention made of two
particular articles of the said precepts--that is to say, that
you should not teach--_doceri_--and in any
manner--_quovis modo_--write of the same doctrine, you
argued that it was to be believed that in the course of
fourteen or sixteen years those things passed out of your
memory, and that, on account of the same forgetfulness, you
were silent about that precept when you solicited a license for
publishing the said work of yours. And this was not said by you
to excuse error, but, as it is ascribed, rather to a
vainglorious ambition than to malice. But this very certificate
produced by you in your defence rather aggravates the charge
against you, since in it, it is declared that the said opinion
was contrary to Scripture, and nevertheless you dared to treat
of it, to defend it, and even to argue in favor of its
probability. Neither did that certificate give you the faculty,
as you interpret it, so artfully and subtly extorted by you,
since you did not make known the prohibition that had been
imposed on you.
{437}
But as it appeared to us that you did not speak the entire
truth with respect to your intention, we indicated that it was
necessary to proceed to a rigorous examination of you, in
which, without prejudice to the other things which were
confessed by you, and which are deduced against you with
respect to your intention, you answered Catholically.
"Which things, therefore, having duly considered, and examined
into the merits of this cause, together with the
above-mentioned confessions and excuses of yours, and whatever
other matters should be rightly seen and considered, we come to
the following definitive sentence against you:
"We say, judge, and declare that you, the above-named Galileo,
on account of those things set forth in the documents of this
trial, and which have been confessed by you as above stated,
_have rendered yourself to this holy office vehemently
suspected of heresy;_ that is, that you believed and hold
that doctrine which is false and contrary to the sacred
Scriptures, namely, that the sun is the centre of the orbit of
the world, and that it moves not from east to west, and that
the earth moves, and is not the centre of the world; and that
an opinion can be held and defended as probable, after it had
been declared and defined as contrary to the sacred Scriptures.
And consequently, that you have incurred all the censures and
penalties by the sacred canons and other general constitutions
and particular statutes promulgated against delinquencies of
this kind, from which it is our pleasure that you should be
absolved; provided, first, that with a sincere heart and faith,
not feigned, before us you abjure, curse, and detest the
above-mentioned errors and heresies, and every other heresy and
error contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church, by
that formula which is presented to you. But lest this grave
fault of yours, and pernicious error and transgression, should
remain unpunished altogether, and for the time to come that by
more caution you should avoid them and be an example to others,
that they should abstain from this sort of crime, we decree and
by public edict prohibit the book of the _Dialogues_ of
Galileo-Galilei; we condemn you to the prison of the holy
office during our pleasure; and as a solitary penance, we
prescribe that for three years you shall once a week recite the
seven penitential psalms; reserving to ourselves the power of
moderating, commuting, or taking away in whole or in part the
above-mentioned penalties and penances.
"And thus we say, pronounce, and by sentence declare," etc.
Then followed Galileo's abjuration of his errors and heresies;
that is to say, abjuration of his error as to the earth's
movement, and of his heresy as to the decisions of the
Congregation.
We thus give, in all their crudity, and without comment, the only
portion of the trial and the decree at all available to the
advocates of the old version of the Galileo story. Let them make
the most of it.
The Record Of The Trial Of Galileo,
or the Procès Verbal, still exists in all its original integrity.
The history of these documents is singular. The archives of the
Inquisition at Rome were carried off to Paris at some time during
the reign of Napoleon. Lord Brougham says in 1809. M. Biot (who
cites _M. Delaborde, Directeur des Archives Françaises_)
says in 1811.
{438}
A French translation of the Galileo trial, begun by order of
Napoleon, was completed down to April 30th, 1633. Just before the
Hundred Days, Louis XVIII. desired to see the documents, and all
the papers connected with the trial were brought to his
apartments. His hasty flight from Paris soon followed, and the
MSS. were forgotten and lost sight of. When the plundered
archives were returned to Rome, it was found that the Galileo
trial was not among them. Reclamation was made, and it was not
until 1846 that Louis Philippe had the documents returned by M.
Rossi. They are now in the Vatican.
In this connection, it is an interesting fact to note that
seventy folio volumes of the archives of the Inquisition are now
in the library of the University of Dublin. The archives at Rome
were plundered a second time in 1849, whether by Garibaldians or
French is not known. The plunder was brought to Paris by a French
officer, and there, in 1850, sold to the late Duke of Manchester,
who sold them to the Rev. Mr. Gibbings, a Protestant clergyman of
the Irish Establishment. Mr. Gibbings again sold them to the late
Dr. Wall, vice-provost of the university, aided by Dr. Singer,
Bishop of Meath, who presented them to the library of Trinity
College, Dublin.
We return to the Galileo record. In 1850, Signor Marino-Marini,
Prefect of the Vatican Archives, published _Galileo e
l'Inquizitione_. This Signor Marini is the same who is so
highly spoken of by William von Humboldt. (See Schlesier's
_Lives of the Humboldts_.) His work originally appeared in
the form of a discourse addressed to the Archaeological Academy
of Rome.
Looked for with anxiety, the book was received with some
disappointment. Instead of the text, and the _entire_ text
of the trial, Signor Marini gave extracts and fragments, stating
at the same time that the French, who had these documents in
their possession so many years, had not dared to publish them,
because they were disappointed at not finding in them what they
sought for.
To this it was objected--and the point was well taken--"Why,
then, did not you publish the whole?" The truth is, the choice of
Signor Marini for the task was unfortunate. An excellent scholar
and accomplished man, he was yet too timid or too narrow-minded
for it, and undertook the function of an advocate rather than the
far more important one of a historian.
He shrank from the publicity of such passages as, "_Devenietur
contra ipsum ad remedia juris et facti opportuna,_" "_Alias
devenietur ad torturam,_" as though we were not aware of the
universality of the use of torture in all the criminal procedure
of all Europe, and that the Inquisition took it not from
ecclesiastical, but from the secular tribunals of the day; as
though we did not only deplore, but openly reprobate, the fact,
and as though we did not hold the Inquisition responsible for the
odium it has entailed on the Catholic Church, very much, we
presume, as any right-minded Protestant holds star-chambers and
Elizabethan tortures responsible for burdens they find hard to
bear.
A distinguished French writer, M. Henri de l'Epinois, expressed
his regret to the present prefect of the Vatican Archives as to
the unsatisfactory manner in which Sig. Marini had presented the
Galileo record, whereupon the Rev. Father Theiner immediately
offered to place all the documents at his disposition for any
examination or publication he might wish to make.
{439}
The result is M. L'Epinois's work, _Galilée, son Procès, sa
Condamnation, d'après des Documens Inédits_, in which are
given all the original passages omitted by Marini.
The record of the trial covers two hundred and twenty pages, and
includes, besides the interrogatories and replies of Galileo and
of several witnesses, sixty-three letters, orders, opinions,
depositions, etc., besides the various decrees and Galileo's
defence and abjuration.
The interrogatories are all in Latin, the answers in Italian.
Thus, for example, where Galileo is examined as to the
publication of his _Dialogues_, the record runs:
"_Interrogate_. An si ostenderet sibi dictus liber paratus
sit illum recognoscere tanquam suum?
"_Respondit_. Spero di si che mi sara monstrato il libro
lo riconoscero.
"Et sibi ostenso uno ex libris Florentiae impressis, anno 1632,
cujus titulus est _Dialogo di Galileo-Galilei_ linceo, in
quo agitur de duobus sistematibus mundi, et per ipsum bene viso
et inspecto, dixit: lo conosco questo libro benissimo, et e uno
di quelli stampati in Fiorenza, et lo conosco come mio e da me
composto.
"_Interrogatus_. An pariter recognoscat omnia et singula
in dicto libro contenta tanquam sua?
"_Respondit_. Io conosco questo libro mostratomi, ch'è uno
di quelli stampati in Fiorenza e tutto quello che in esso si
contiene lo riconosco come composto da me."
"E Pur Si Muove!"
The temptation of the dramatic effect of this phrase has been too
strong for writers who should have known better than to give it
currency. In the declamation of a school exhibition, we are not
surprised to find it; but from a serious historian it comes with
a bad grace. M. Ponsard has, of course, preserved it in his
drama.
It is simply fable, and like the "Up, Guards, and at them!" of
Lord Wellington, "un de ces mots de circonstance inventés après
coup." [Footnote 144]
[Footnote 144: "One of those impromptus composed at
leisure."]
"Unstable, timorous, equivocating, and supple," says Philarète
Chasles, "he never had the heart to exclaim, 'E pur si muove!'"
He never exhibited that heroical resistance which has been
attributed to him.
The penitential shirt or sack is also fabulous, notwithstanding
even so distinguished a man as Cousin speaks of Galileo as "forcé
d'abjurer á genoux, en chemise, son plus beau titre de gloire."
[Footnote 145]
[Footnote 145: "Forced to abjure on his knees, and clad in a
shirt, his noblest title to greatness."]
Value Of The Decree.
A few words--and but few are needed--as to the common assertion
that the Catholic Church, claiming infallibility in matters of
faith, decided the doctrine of the earth's immobility to be a
truth affirmed in the Scriptures. Granting the decree of the
Inquisition in the case of Galileo to have been all that is
claimed against it, it was, after all, nothing but a decree of
the Inquisition; no more, no less.
And first, what was the Inquisition?
The Inquisition forms no permanent or essential part of the
organization of the Catholic Church. It was always a purely local
tribunal, and the original appointment of its officers as
_quaesitores fidei_, or inquisitors, seems to have been
designed to prevent civil wars on the score of religion. The
prevailing sentiment as well as the positive jurisprudence of the
middle ages approved the punishment of heresy by temporal
penalties.
{440}
Indeed, such principles, abhorrent to us, seem to have come down
out of the so-called dark ages far toward our own time. For full
confirmation of this statement, you may read John Calvin's
treatise in defence of persecuting measures, in which he
maintains the lawfulness of putting heretics to death; and for
illustration, you may peruse the account of his treatment of
Castellio and Servetus, who found Calvin's reasoning of such
peculiar strength that they did not survive its application; or
his letter to Somerset, (1548:) "You have two kinds of mutineers:
the one are a fanatical people, who, under color of the gospel,
would set all to confusion; the others are stubborn people in the
superstition of the Antichrist of Rome. _These altogether do
deserve to be well punished by the sword_." (See Froude's
_History of England_, vol. v.) Charming impartiality!
More than a hundred years afterward, Calvin's followers embodied
his doctrine in their solemn confession of faith, wherein they
say (_Westminster Confession_, ch. xxiii.) that "the civil
magistrate hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order,
that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed."
Although inquisitors existed in Italy from the time of Innocent
IV., their authority was so rarely exercised that it was scarcely
known until Paul III., in the year 1545, organized the
Congregation of the Inquisition, consisting of six cardinals. To
these were added two more by Pius V. They formed a strictly
ecclesiastical tribunal, charged with matters regarding the
integrity of faith throughout the world; their duty being to
examine and censure erroneous propositions, condemn and proscribe
bad books, inflict ecclesiastical censures on clergymen convicted
of error, and exercise a superintendence over the local tribunals
of faith.
It still exists, acts, and exercises its ecclesiastical
attributes.
But however powerful to suppress opinion or to exact obedience
the Inquisition might be within the limits of its own special
jurisdiction, we have never yet heard that any decree of any
inquisition ever determined a question of faith, or, in other
words, ever attempted to usurp the functions of a general
council.
Even Riccioli, the original source, up to within a few years, of
all accounts of the trial and sentence of Galileo, and himself
one of the strongest theological opponents of the theory of the
earth's motion, expressly protests against the assertion that any
declaration whatever had been made on the subject by the church
itself. He says: "The Sacred Congregation of Cardinals, taken
apart from the Supreme Pontiff, does not make propositions to be
of faith, _even though it should actually define them to be of
faith, or the contrary ones heretical_. Wherefore, since no
definition upon this matter has as yet issued from the Supreme
Pontiff, nor from any council directed and approved by him, it is
not yet of faith that the sun moves and the earth stands still by
force of the decree of the Congregation; but at most and alone,
by the force of the sacred Scriptures to those to whom it is
morally evident that God has revealed it. Nevertheless, Catholics
are bound, in prudence and obedience, at least so far as not to
teach the contrary."
And yet, plain as is this distinction, men of professedly
theological acquirements, for the sake of inflicting a wound on
the church, systematically ignore it whenever they have "a point"
to make with the Galileo story.
{441}
And the distinction is not only plain at the present day, but was
expressly made at the time of Galileo's trial. "It was not in the
power of the holy office to declare it (Galileo's scientific
theory) or any other doctrine heresy; it would take an
OEcumenical Council for that." (Letter of September 4th, 1632:
Cardinal Magalotti to Galileo.) Even Descartes, six months after
the trial, remarks that the decision of the Inquisition had
received the ratification of neither pope nor council.
The Torture.
The relators of the torture fable ask us to believe that an old
man bending under the weight of seventy years, after undergoing
imprisonment and mental anguish, suffered the _peine forte et
dure_ of torture on the 21st of June, and on the next day was
capable of remaining more than an hour on his knees to receive
his sentence, and then, unaided, arose, stamped his foot, and
thundered out, "E pur si muove!" Truly a vigorous performance,
but not more hardy than the story which relates it.
No; these fables can no longer have place in history; and we know
positively that Galileo, who, on the evening of June 24th, after
his three days' detention at the holy office, (the sentence of
imprisonment being immediately commuted by the pope,) was
conducted by Niccolini to the Villa Medici, and who, on the 6th
of July, old as he was, was able to walk four miles without
inconvenience, could not have been tortured on the 21st of June.
"Those who undertake," says the German Protestant Von Reumont,
"to accuse the Inquisition on this point, are forced to have
recourse to fiction."
Lord Brougham, after an examination of the case, says, in his
Analytical View of the Principia, that "the supposition of
Galileo having been tortured is entirely disproved by Galileo's
own account of the lenity with which he was treated."
Biot dismisses the matter thus: "II y a là une réunion
d'invraisemblances qui ne permet pas de concevoir raisonnablement
un soupçon pareil." [Footnote 146]
[Footnote 146: "There is here such a conjunction of
improbabilities as to exclude all reasonable possibility of
such a suspicion."]
Galileo survived his sentence eight years. Is it credible that,
during that long period spent in intimate personal intercourse
and literary correspondence with his friend, no word or hint of
complaint of such an outrage as torture should have escaped his
lips?
Castelli was constantly with him to the hour of his death, and
heard no whisper of it.
In August, 1638, writing to Bernegger, Galileo could boast that
neither the freedom nor the vigor of his spirit was repressed.
Three months before his death, with the certainty of its
approach, he sent for Torricelli, and spent long hours in
unreserved discourse with him. Not a word of torture!
Finally, in his last letter, just three weeks before his death,
to Beccherini, he bewails his endurances and his troubles in a
spirit that could not and did not fail to unseal his lips for
everything he had to say in the spirit of complaint; but here,
too, not a word of torture!
The majority of the French feuilletonists on the Ponsard drama
manifest disappointment at not finding any torture, and
straightway seek solace in such reflections as, "Ainsi, Galilée
ne fut point mis à la torture; on en a aujourd'hui la pleine
certitude."! [Footnote 147]
[Footnote 147: "Thus, then, Galileo was not put to the
torture. Of that we now have the fullest certainty."]
{442}
But the feuilletonist wants to know if the persecutions,
bitterness, and vexation of every kind to which Galileo was
subjected were not the equivalent of physical torture?
And what, then, does he take to be the equivalent of the irony,
sarcasm, ingratitude, and insult gratuitously heaped upon Urban,
the kind friend and liberal benefactor of Galileo?
No reasonable doubt can now exist as to the fact that it was not
Galileo's assertion of the hypothesis of the earth's rotation
that brought him into trouble. It was his intemperance of
language, impatience of wise counsel, disregard of sacred
obligations, violation of solemn promises, and above all, his
insane perversity in dragging the scriptural element into the
controversy. Of the scores of distinguished adherents, disciples,
advocates, and professors of the heliocentric doctrine, Galileo
alone gave annoyance and created difficulty.
To the extent of examining and discussing the question
scientifically, the freedom at Rome was perfect. But when the
point was reached when it was gratuitously thrust into collision
with Scripture, a degree of demonstration was needed that could
not be produced.
After The Trial.
To complete the chronological statement of events, it is only
necessary to add that on the 6th of July Galileo left Rome for
Sienna, where he remained with Archbishop Piccolomini, one of his
most intimate friends, until the month of December. He then
returned to his own home at Arcetri, near Florence.
It was here he received the oft-described and well-known visit of
Milton, then in the prime of youth. In 1638, he transferred his
residence to Florence, where he occupied himself with scientific
pursuits, his negotiation with Holland for the use of his
discovery concerning the longitude, the publication of his book
_Dialoghi delle Nuove Scienze_ at Leyden, (1638,)
correspondence with scientific men, and visits from his friends.
He died on the 8th of January, 1642, in the seventy-eighth year
of his age.
"The noblest eye," wrote his friend Father Castelli, announcing
his death, "which nature ever made, is darkened; an eye so
privileged and gifted with such rare powers that it may truly be
said to have seen more than the eyes of all that are gone, and to
have opened the eyes of all that are to come."
We now pass to the consideration of the exact condition of
The Scientific Question
as it existed in 1633, leaving, of course, aside all discussion
of its theological or scriptural connection.
Without going back so far as Pythagoras, the new system in 1633
was not original with Galileo, nor even with Copernicus, who is
said to have received the germ of his new doctrine at Bologna
from the hypothesis of Dominicus Maria on the variability of the
axis of the earth; and it would be most interesting, did space
allow, to review the intellectual struggles of the predecessors
(_ad astra_) of the Polish priest with a theory they felt to
be true, but were powerless to demonstrate even to themselves.
{443}
Among these men were:
1. The great mystical theologian, Richard of St. Victor, who
described the true method of physical inquiry in terms which
Francis Bacon might have adopted. "It would not be easy at the
present day," says Dr. Whewell, (_Philosophy of Discovery_,
pp. 52-53,) "to give a better account of the object of physical
science."
2. Celius Calcagnini, (born 1479,) who published (Tiraboschi says
_divolgò_, which may or may not mean simply printing) a work
in which he endeavored to prove "_quod coelum stet, terra autem
moveatur_."
3. Cardinal Cusa, sometimes called Nicholas the Cusan, an
intellectual giant of his time, the highest expression, probably,
of the active mental movement that marked the 15th century. He
was equally distinguished in science, in letters, and in
philosophy, and in 1436, at the Council of Basle, proposed the
reform of the calendar afterward carried out by the pope. His
knowledge of astronomy was, for his time, profound, and he
asserted and published that "the sun is at rest, the earth
moves," ("_istam terram in veritate moveatur._") [Footnote
148]
[Footnote 148: "That heaven is motionless,
but that the earth moves."]
4. Novara, the preceptor of Copernicus; for it is certain that
Copernicus found his new doctrine in Italy.
5. Jerome of Tallavia, whose papers are said to have fallen into
the hands of Copernicus.
6. Leonardo da Vinci, who, in 1510, connected his theory of
bodies with the earth's motion, "showing," as Whewell says, "that
the heliocentric doctrines were fermenting in the minds of
intelligent men, and gradually assuming clearness and strength."
Although Da Vinci constructed no system of explanation, he
nevertheless held the motion of the earth, as appears from one of
his manuscripts of the year 1500.
Some light may be thrown upon the actual condition of
astronomical science during the Galileo period by a short
statement of the arguments most in vogue between
Ptolemaists And Copernicans,
and of what the latter had to present in the way of proof.
The Copernicans contended generally for the greater simplicity of
their system, and the incredibility of the enormous velocity
which the sphere of the fixed stars must have if the ancient
system be true. To this it was answered that God doeth wonders
without number.
But the earth would corrupt and putrefy without motion, whereas
the heavens are incorruptible. To which the answer was ready that
wind would give sufficient motion.
But the most movable part of man is underneath, since he walks
with his feet; whence the most unworthy part of the universe, the
earth, should be movable.
Objected that, if the earth moves, the head of a man moves faster
than his feet.
But again, "Rest is nobler than motion, and therefore ought to
belong to the sun, the noble body."
Replied to, "For the same reason, the moon and all the planets
ought to rest."
Again, "The lamp of the world ought to be in the centre."
Answered by, "A lamp is frequently hung up from a roof to
enlighten the floor."
"Can we fancy," asked the Copernicans, "that God has not acted on
a scheme so impressive and so beautiful as ours?"
"Can we fancy," replied their opponents, "that this earth is
constantly in motion, which we feel to be the stablest of all
things? that our senses are given to deceive us? that during the
greater part of our lives we cling to the earth with our head
downward?"
{444}
Finally, the Copernicans were utterly silenced by the
unanswerable argument of throwing up a stone.
"Would they please explain," was asked of them, "why, if the
earth moved, the stone, being thrown directly upward, should fall
on the spot from which it was thrown?"
The Copernicans were silent, for they could assign no reason. "In
the sixteenth century," says Professor De Morgan, "the wit of man
could not imagine how, if the earth moved, a stone thrown
directly upward would tumble down upon the spot it was thrown
from." It was reserved for a man who was born on the same day
Galileo died to furnish the reason.
Astronomy In 1633.
To one seeking for a demonstrated system, astronomy was then a
hopeless chaos of irreconcilable facts--an impenetrable jungle of
conflicting theories. That such was the actual condition of the
science in Galileo's day, we find fully recognized and aptly
described by a distinguished English Protestant, a great name in
English literature, who, himself "an exact mathematician" and
astronomer, was most active in research and observation precisely
during the period of Galileo's greatest fame. We refer to Burton,
author of the celebrated _Anatomy of Melancholy_.
This remarkable book was written by Burton during the years
extending from 1614 to 1621, when the first edition was
published. The subsequent editions of 1624, 1628, 1632, and 1638
were all issued during the life of the author, who died in 1639,
a succession of years precisely covering the period of Galileo's
controversies and trials; and yet its author, vicar of St. Thomas
and rector of Segrave, (Church of England as by law established,)
who never misses an opportunity ever so slight of giving
Catholicity a thrust or a stab, makes 'mere mention' of Galileo's
condemnation thus: "These paradoxes of the earth's motion which
the Church of Rome hath lately condemned as heretical."
The truth is, that in that day the course pursued by the
Congregation at Rome was generally approved even by Protestants.
In their eyes, nothing but a paradox was condemned. Having
exhausted all his proof, where does Galileo leave our exact
English mathematician, who evidently read and knew of everything
published on the subject in his day?
Why, Burton speaks of "that main paradox of the earth's motion
now so much in question," and devotes five full pages to a
presentation of all the theories then current, giving Galileo's
as of no more value than the others! He thus sums them up:
"One offends against natural philosophy, another against optic
principles, a third against mathematical, as not answering to
astronomical observations. One puts a great space between
Saturn's orb and the eighth sphere, another too narrow. In his
own hypothesis, he makes the earth as before the universal
centre, the sun to the five upper planets; to the eighth sphere
he ascribes diurnal motion; eccentrics and epicycles to the
seven planets, which hath been formerly exploded; and so,
_dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currant_, [Footnote
149] as a tinker stops one hole and makes two, he corrects
them, and doth worse himself: reforms some and mars all. In the
mean time, the world is tossed in a blanket amongst them, they
hoist the earth up and down like a ball, make it stand and go
at their pleasures: one saith the sun stands; another, he
moves; a third comes in, taking them all at rebound, and lest
there should any paradox be wanting, he finds certain spots and
clouds in the sun. ...
[Footnote 149: "While they avoid one mistake, they run into
the contrary."]
{445}
And thus they disagree amongst themselves, old and new,
irreconcilable in their opinions; thus Aristarchus, thus
Hipparchus, thus Ptolemaeus, thus Albateginus, thus Alfraganus,
thus Tycho, thus Ramerus, thus Raeslinus, thus Fracastorius,
thus Copernicus and his adherents," etc.
Not a word here of Galileo.
The whole chapter is very curious, and will well repay the
trouble of reading. See pages 323 to 329, London edition.
Notwithstanding his condition of paradox as seen by disinterested
men of science, Galileo claimed three propositions as settled:
_First_. The system was demonstrated.
_Second_. He demonstrated it.
_Third_. His was the honor of furnishing the demonstration
from the flux and reflux of the tides.